Disney overhauling disabled-access program to curb abuse

ANAHEIM – The Disneyland Resort is overhauling a program that allows visitors with disabilities to bypass regular ride lines, the culmination of a months-long effort to curb “abuse” in the system, a park official said.

Beginning Oct. 9, visitors to the resort’s two theme parks who present a Disney-issued disability card will no longer be granted immediate, back-door access to rides, a park spokeswoman said.

Instead, they’ll be issued a return time for the attraction based on its wait time – similar to the FastPass system offered to all visitors.

The existing program “certainly has been problematic, and we wanted to curb some of the abuse of this system,” Disneyland Resort spokeswoman Suzi Brown said Saturday.

Rumors about the sweeping overhaul to Disney’s Guest Assistance Card program were outlined this week by the Disney watchdog site MiceAge.com, which published a detailed explanation of how the program will be overhauled.

Critics reacted swiftly, including local autism advocates who decried the overhaul as unaccommodating to children with autism. They launched online petitions calling on Disney to reverse course.

Mission Viejo parent Rebecca Goddard, who takes her 4- and 6-year-old sons with autism to Disney about once a week, said her sons cannot wait in lines longer than a few minutes. Both sons begin pushing and shoving other people, and speaking in increasingly loud and angry voices, Goddard said.

“My boys don’t have the cognition to understand why it’s going to be a long wait,” Goddard said. “There are so few things for my boys that bring them utter joy and happiness – to mess with it just makes me sad.”

MiceAge reported Tuesday that visitors with disabilities will be required to visit centralized kiosks spread across the parks to request a return time for a specific ride. They will not be able to receive more than one return time at any given time, according to MiceAge.

Brown of the Disneyland Resort said she could not immediately confirm the MiceAge report. More details will be forthcoming prior to the Oct. 9 rollout of the Disability Access Service Card program, she said.

“We have an unwavering commitment to making our parks accessible to all guests,” the Disneyland Resort said in a statement Saturday. “Given the increasing volume of requests we receive for special access to our attractions, we are changing our process to create a more consistent experience for all our guests while providing accommodations for guests with disabilities.”

Orange parent Michele Williams, who has a wheelchair-bound son with a severe epilepsy syndrome called Dravet, expressed grave concerns about the changes.

“If we’re forced to go to a kiosk instead of the ride to sign up, that is further from the ride and it’s causing a handicapped person to actually work harder for the same access,” Williams said.

Also, Williams said, her son cannot be confined in lengthy ride lines because if he has a seizure, he must be immediately administered life-saving medication.

“It’s not that I need to get through the line faster – we just need to wait separately,” she said.

Brown said park officials worked closely with outside groups to overhaul the program, including the national advocacy group Autism Speaks. Park officials will continue to evaluate the program based on visitor feedback, Brown said.

“We pride ourselves on listening to our guests,” Brown said.

Under the Disneyland Resort’s existing system, visitors who cannot wait in standard lines may request a personalized Guest Assistance Card; no proof of disability is required. The card typically entitles the holder and up to five guests unlimited alternative access to most rides, such as through a back door or the FastPass entrance.

The Anaheim parks began working on the changes after NBC's "Today” show aired an undercover investigation in May about families who were hiring strangers with Disney-issued disabled-access cards to help them avoid long lines.

Disney called such abuses “deplorable.”

The overhauled program will be simultaneously introduced at Walt Disney World in Florida, Brown said.